A passenger on a flight from Denver to Portland has been imprisoned in a federal jail for 12 months after he pleaded guilty to a single charge of assault by striking while onboard the August 14, 2019 flight.
Yuriy Poplauskiy,40, reached a plea deal with prosecutors following accusations that he tried to start a mile-high fight with another passenger and groped the genitals of a male flight attendant during the two-and-a-half-hour flight.
Court documents describe how other passengers had observed Poplauskiy exhibiting strange behavior before things seriously escalated with just 25 minutes left of the flight.
Poplauskiy allegedly peered through a gap in the seats and started to stare at a passenger sitting in the row behind. He “glared at the man and mumbled ‘when we land, I’ll see you at the airport,'” the U.S. attorney’s office alleged.
“Poplauskiy then stood up, called the man a name, and punched him in the jaw.”
He then ran to a lavatory and only returned to his seat with minutes left of the flight. That still left time, however, for Poplauskiy to allegedly try to pick a fight with another passenger and then grope a flight attendant.
A grand jury indicted Poplauskiy in September 2019, but the case appears to have been heavily delayed by Poplauskiy’s continuing criminal antics.
Prosecutors say Poplauskiy violated his pre-trial release conditions six times, including two new criminal convictions for possessing methamphetamine and trying to elude arrest.
Poplauskiy eventually pleaded guilty to a single charge of assault on Monday and has been sentenced to serve a year in federal prison. Upon his year, Poplauskiy will also have to abide by one year of supervised release.
Featured photo for illustrative purposes only
